What help us to know ourselves, what things are not helping factors, and how we can analyse ourselves from the outgoing faculties and intellect is a practical subject. This is truly called spirituality.

The true service of God or God-in-man

I was just explaining about who is in a position to serve God or the God-in-man. It is he on whom God sheds His grace. Nobody else can do His service otherwise. What is the criterion of one who serves God or the God-in-man? Those whom He wants to serve Him are brought nearer to Him, either in His Mission or to His home and in other affairs. One is attuned with the Naam or Word Power only when God wishes it. This is given through the human body in which God is manifested. The manifested God in Him gives a contact with the Word or Naam to others. It is the Naam or Word which is the Controlling Power within us. It is through the grace of God alone that one is initiated. The very fact that a man is initiated means that God has shed His grace and wants His children to come to Him. For this purpose, He gives a contact through some human body in which He is manifest. The greatest service is to attune yourself to the Naam Power within you, which is the Light- and Soundprinciple. This is the way back to Absolute God.

Now the question arises, what about those who are taken in direct service under Him, either to carry out the work of His Mission or at His home? It is the God in Him who selects, not the son of man. Those who are selected to work in His Mission are selected by His grace. It is not everybody who is selected to work in His Mission or who are brought into closer contact with Him. When God wants somebody to come nearer to Him, He places that person in a position where he can serve God direct, either at His home or in His Mission. This is His grace. So only he can serve God or the God-in-man whom God Himself wishes. The criterion is that first he is given Naam or Initiation. Those who are given Initiation are given it because God wishes to bring them closer to Him, first in soul, then outwardly. For that, the Master says that we must put in time for meditation, as much as we can, so that we may benefit from His inner Radiant Form, talk to Him heart to heart and get His guidance direct. This is one aspect. The other aspect is that outer service is also given to those selected by Him. They are given some work to do in His Mission. Others are brought still closer to carry on other work under His direct supervision. It is all His grace that induces one to come nearer to Him. Those who have been selected for that purpose are most fortunate. Sometimes we are selected for a certain purpose and we think that we are the master of the service that is given to us. The little ego within us naturally asserts. This is not service. The service of the Master is to carry out the work as the Master wishes it. That alone can be called a service with which the Master is pleased, all others not. Those who are brought nearer to the Master in one way or the other, their ego asserts itself. They say, "I am carrying on this or that thing." That assertion causes the person affected to have a lack of sweetness in all his affairs. He will assert, he will command. He does not consider himself to be a puppet in the hands of the Master. There should be selfless service always. So those who have been selected for the service of the Master, in one way or the other, to carry on His work here or anywhere under His direct supervision, are most fortunate.

Some people are selected to work quite close to Him. This is His grace, coming from the God in Him. People can only serve God or the God-in-man whom God wishes. Those who are selected are the object of special grace from God. But what do we do? We sometimes take it up as a business. We expect compensation in one way or the other. Our Master used to compare those who came from afar to stay for a while to a calf that, when it came to the cow, took only her milk. Whereas those who are always near to the Master are compared to the ticks which just suck the blood of the udder, but don’t take the milk. If we want to serve God or the God-in-man, it can be done only through His grace and if He wishes it. Nobody else can do it. If one has been selected to work for the Master, it is God’s grace. When you are selected for one purpose, then do it joyously, quietly, lovingly, selflessly. Thank God that you have been selected for that job, that you have been included in the arrangement to carry on His work. It is His grace.

You should be true to the Master within you. When you see that He is within you, you will be afraid to do anything wrong, which is against His wishes, whether you are in His presence or in His absence. If you carry on in that way, you will always be thinking of the Master and the result will be, "As you think, so you become". By and by you will find that "It is He who is working in me and not I". Saint Paul said that "It is I, not now I, it is Christ lives in me". This is the ultimate goal. So those who are selected to carry on the work of the service under the Master have God’s grace upon them. They should be thankful that they have been given that service. They should carry on selflessly, always thinking that they are serving the God-in-man, because it is He who has selected them for that purpose. The criterion of service to God or to the God-in-man is that you have been given Initiation, have been brought closer and have been given some job to do under the Master. This is His special grace and we should prove worthy of the job and derive full benefit from it. We can only have this by doing our job selflessly, as a mere puppet in His hands. Any service done at the Will and Pleasure of the Master, in which there is no self assertion, bears forth ample fruit. Those who have been selected for this service under Him should be thankful for it. Otherwise it will be binding and even if you live near to the Master, you cannot bear forth the full fruit. So today’s subject is about those who have been initiated by the God-in-man, through His grace. They should develop what they have been given by observing regular precautions or restrictions, so that they may develop within and meet the Radiant Form of the Master and talk to Him heart to heart. This is one aspect. The second aspect is that sometimes you are selected for a job. What is His job? To bring all children of God together. You should prove yourself an example to other people. An example is better than precept. If you have been given a job in His Mission, then you should do it, whether here under His direct supervision, or anywhere. Those who have been selected for one purpose or another are most fortunate. But they should perform their duties with no assertion of ego in them. They should do it just to please the Master, with no view to compensation or return. It is for the Master to give what He wishes, what a man is fit for, what He thinks best for him. When you give service to such a God-in-man, naturally you will be compensated. What compensation will He give you? He will first free you from the world and then unite you with God forever. If the God-in-man wishes good of yours, then I think that it is God who wishes good of yours.

Those who are initiated are done so by the special grace of God. The purpose of Initiation is for our soul to go back to the lap of our Father through the Light and Sound Principle which emanates from Absolute God. Further special grace is given when an initiate is selected for some job to help carry on the work. It is those who want to be nearer to the Master who are given some special job to do, some duty to perform. If the person to whom the job is given does it selflessly, with no ego in him, it will bear forth fruit. When you see that everything goes according to the Will and Pleasure of the Master, then naturally, you will be one with Him. You will have no will of your own. His Will is your will and His Will is God’s Will. So each one of you should be thankful that you have been initiated. You have been put on the way back to Absolute God. When He has selected you for some particular duty, you are still more fortunate, but perform it with full faith, devotion and selflessness. I you do this, what will He give you? He will give you His very own place.

Guru Har Govind, the sixth Guru of the Sikhs, once asked somebody to recite from the Jap Ji, which is part of the Guru Granth Sahib, the scripture of the Sikhs. He said, "Whoever will recite this with single-minded attention, may ask me for his heart’s desire. But there should be no other thought intervening. It must be done with single-minded attention." So one man began to recite from the Jap Ji. He went on with single-minded attention and when he was coming near to the end of the recitation he thought of a very beautiful horse that had been given to the Master, and wished for it. At the close of the recitation, he spoke up and asked for the horse. The Master gave him the horse and then said to him, "Well, look here, if you had not wanted that horse, I would have given my very own seat to you." You follow me? Those who work selflessly, with single-minded attention, will become one with the Master. The Master wants to bring you to one with Himself. Those who want something else, well that is given of course, but selfless service for the Master is the highest good fortune, I would say. But who does it? He to whom God sends His grace.

So first of all, you are fortunate to have been initiated. Those who have been selected to work in His Mission and have direct contact with Him are still more fortunate. But it should be selfless, mind that. There should be no assertion of self. Because of the self or ego coming in, instead of deriving full good, you derive little or no good. So be thankful that you have been given Initiation. Those who derive full benefit by doing service sometimes think that they are above the Master. You may be as good as the Master, that’s another thing, but you cannot be above Him. It is the assertion of your self that causes you to exceed your position. The result is that one who acts in this manner will not derive full benefit. The servant is the servant and the Lord is the Lord. If the Lord does not accept your service, then can you force Him? Sometimes we don’t derive the full benefit by what we were given at the time of Initiation. By living close to the Master even then we don’t derive the full benefit. So in order to derive the full benefit of Initiation and whatever service you may have been given, you must work in a selfless manner and with single-minded devotion. By doing it in this way, you will become one with the Master.